London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham | |
|---|---|
     
| |
 Council logo | |
| Motto(s): Spectemur agendo (Let us be judged by our actions) | |
 Hammersmith and Fulham shown withinGreater London | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Constituent country | England |
| Region | London |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Created | 1 April 1965 |
| Admin HQ | King Street, Hammersmith |
| Government | |
| • Type | London borough council |
| • Body | Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council |
| • London Assembly | James Small-Edwards (Lab) AM forWest Central |
| • MPs | Ben Coleman (Lab) Rupa Huq (Lab) Andy Slaughter (Lab) |
| Area | |
• Total | 6.33 sq mi (16.40 km2) |
| • Rank | 292nd(of 296) |
| Population (2024) | |
• Total | 188,687 |
| • Rank | 112th(of 296) |
| • Density | 29,800/sq mi (11,510/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Postcodes | |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-HMF |
| ONS code | 00AN |
| GSS code | E09000013 |
| Police | Metropolitan Police |
| Website | lbhf |
TheLondon Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (pronunciationⓘ) is aLondon borough inWest London and which also forms part ofInner London. The borough was formed in 1965 as theLondon Borough of Hammersmith from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Fulham and Hammersmith. The name was changed to Hammersmith and Fulham in 1979. The borough bordersBrent to the north, theRoyal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the east,Wandsworth to the south,Richmond upon Thames to the south west, andHounslow andEaling to the west.
Traversed by the east–west main roads of theA4 Great West Road and theA40Westway, many international corporations have offices in the borough.[1] The local council isHammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council. The borough is amongst the four most expensive boroughs for residential properties in the United Kingdom, along with Kensington and Chelsea, the City of Westminster and Camden.[2]
The borough is unique in London in having three professionalfootball clubs:Chelsea,Fulham andQueens Park Rangers.
The area of the modern borough broadly corresponds to theancient parish ofFulham, which was part of the county ofMiddlesex. Themanor (estate) of Fulham can be traced back to the seventh century when it was granted to the Bishop of London.[3] Thechapelry ofHammersmith was given its ownvestry in 1631, making it a separatecivil parish from Fulham.[4]
From 1856 the area was governed by theMetropolitan Board of Works, which was established to provide services across themetropolis of London.[5] In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made theCounty of London. From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised variousparish vestries and district boards. From 1856 until 1886 the two parishes of Fulham and Hammersmith were administered together as theFulham District. The Fulham district was dissolved in 1886 when the vestries for its two parishes took on district functions.[6]
In 1900 the lower tier was reorganised intometropolitan boroughs, the two parishes becoming theMetropolitan Borough of Fulham and theMetropolitan Borough of Hammersmith.[7]
The modern borough was formed in 1965 under theLondon Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the former metropolitan boroughs of Fulham and Hammersmith.[8] The new borough was originally called the London Borough of Hammersmith, but the council changed the borough's name to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham with effect from 1 April 1979.[9]
Fulham saw industrialisation and urbanisation from the start of the 19th century, with the establishment of the world's first energy utility company, atSands End in 1824, followed by road and rail transport development to the east of the borough.[citation needed] Vacant land by the new railway sidings on the boundary withKensington and Chelsea London Borough Council led to the development of theEarls Court Exhibition Centre, visited byQueen Victoria in 1879 when she attendedBill Cody's Wild West Show atWest Brompton.[citation needed] There followed numerous international fairs and exhibitions for a century until the construction of Earls Court II in the borough in the 1980s. This was dismantled by developers in 2015.[citation needed]
At the other end of today's borough, in 1908, theFranco-British Exhibition andOlympic Games were hosted inHammersmith, atWhite City, London, but the site then took many decades to be redeveloped. In 1960, theBBC opened theBBC Television Centre.Westfield London opened in 2008, a large development with new transport links and a shopping centre.
The borough includes the areas:
The local authority is Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which usually meets atHammersmith Town Hall.
Since 2000, for elections to theLondon Assembly, the borough forms part of theWest Central constituency.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1801 | 10,016 | — |
| 1811 | 13,276 | +32.5% |
| 1821 | 15,307 | +15.3% |
| 1831 | 17,602 | +15.0% |
| 1841 | 23,022 | +30.8% |
| 1851 | 30,012 | +30.4% |
| 1861 | 57,562 | +91.8% |
| 1871 | 85,112 | +47.9% |
| 1881 | 112,662 | +32.4% |
| 1891 | 185,350 | +64.5% |
| 1901 | 223,755 | +20.7% |
| 1911 | 270,177 | +20.7% |
| 1921 | 275,905 | +2.1% |
| 1931 | 281,757 | +2.1% |
| 1941 | 258,720 | −8.2% |
| 1951 | 237,567 | −8.2% |
| 1961 | 211,150 | −11.1% |
| 1971 | 187,682 | −11.1% |
| 1981 | 144,614 | −22.9% |
| 1991 | 156,085 | +7.9% |
| 2001 | 165,243 | +5.9% |
| 2011 | 182,493 | +10.4% |
| Note:[10] | ||
According to the 2001 census Hammersmith and Fulham has a population of 165,242. 60% of the borough's population isWhite British, 20% white non-British (among which are large French, Polish, Portuguese and Irish communities), 5% blackCaribbean, 8% blackAfrican with various other ethnicities (including Indian, Pakistani,Bangladeshi andChinese) making up the remaining 11 per cent.
The borough has the second-highest proportion of single adults of any borough in England and Wales (55%), and a higher than average proportion for the London area of young adults aged 20–29 (24%).
Around 50% of households areowner–occupiers, and 22% of households were listed as"other" – that is, not single persons living alone or families. These are generally two or more unrelated adults living together, such as students orcohabiting couples.
The borough comprises a patchwork of extremely affluent as well as some less affluent neighbourhoods; The areas of Fulham, Parsons Green, Brackenbury Village, Brook Green, Ravenscourt Park and the Riverside compose of highly expensive Victorian and Edwardian houses, contrasting to the areas of White City and Shepherd's Bush. The unemployment rate is well below average at under 5%, although of these, 29% were listed as long-term unemployed.
See external links below for more census information from the borough.
| Ethnic Group | Year | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 estimations[11] | 1981 estimations[12] | 1991 census[13] | 2001 census[14] | 2011 census[15] | 2021 census[16] | |||||||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| White: Total | – | 88.8% | 118,916 | 84.7% | 122,513 | 82.5% | 128,602 | 77.8% | 124,222 | 68.1% | 115,679 | 63.2% |
| White:British | – | – | – | – | – | – | 95,909 | 58.0% | 81,989 | 44.9% | 70,105 | 38.3% |
| White:Irish | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7,983 | 4.8% | 6,321 | 3.5% | 4,812 | 2.6% |
| White:Gypsy or Irish Traveller | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 217 | 0.1% | 93 | 0.1% |
| White: Roma | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,485 | 0.8% |
| White:Other | – | – | – | – | – | – | 24,710 | 15.0% | 35,695 | 19.7% | 39,184 | 21.4% |
| Asian or Asian British: Total | – | – | – | – | 7,211 | 4.85% | 8,636 | 5.2% | 16,635 | 9.5% | 19,306 | 10.5% |
| Asian or Asian British:Indian | – | – | – | – | 2,343 | 2,733 | % | 3,451 | 1.8% | 4,100 | 2.2% | |
| Asian or Asian British:Pakistani | – | – | – | – | 1,174 | 1,711 | % | 1,612 | 0.8% | 2,010 | 1.1% | |
| Asian or Asian British:Bangladeshi | – | – | – | – | 685 | 1,011 | % | 1,056 | 0.5% | 1,277 | 0.7% | |
| Asian or Asian British:Chinese | – | – | – | – | 1,100 | 1,303 | % | 3,140 | 1.7% | 4,253 | 2.3% | |
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | – | – | – | – | 1,909 | 1,878 | % | 7,376 | 4.0% | 7,666 | 4.2% | |
| Black or Black British: Total | – | – | – | – | 15,138 | 10.1% | 18,397 | 11.2% | 21,505 | 11.8% | 22,453 | 12.2% |
| Black or Black British:African | – | – | – | – | 3,717 | 8,534 | % | 10,552 | 5.7% | 13,243 | 7.2% | |
| Black or Black British:Caribbean | – | – | – | – | 8,820 | 8,072 | % | 7,111 | 3.8% | 6,626 | 3.6% | |
| Black or Black British:Other Black | – | – | – | – | 2,601 | 1,791 | % | 3,842 | 2.1% | 2,584 | 1.4% | |
| Mixed or British Mixed: Total | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6,300 | 3.8% | 10,044 | 5.5% | 12,318 | 6.7% |
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,008 | % | 2,769 | 1.5% | 3,157 | 1.7% |
| Mixed: White and Black African | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,033 | % | 1,495 | 0.8% | 1,777 | 1.0% |
| Mixed: White and Asian | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,609 | % | 2,649 | 1.4% | 3,142 | 1.7% |
| Mixed: Other Mixed | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,650 | % | 3,131 | 1.7% | 4,242 | 2.3% |
| Other: Total | – | – | – | – | 3,640 | 2.45% | 3,307 | 2.0% | 10,387 | 5.5% | 13,400 | 7.3% |
| Other: Arab | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5,228 | 2.8% | 5,534 | 3.0% |
| Other: Any other ethnic group | – | – | – | – | 3,640 | 2.45% | 3,307 | 2.0% | 4,859 | 2.6% | 7,866 | 4.3% |
| Non-White: Total | – | 11.2% | 21,441 | 15.3% | 25,989 | 17.4% | 36,640 | 22.2% | 58,271 | 31.9% | 67,477 | 36.8% |
| Total | – | – | 140,357 | 100% | 148,502 | 100% | 165,242 | 100% | 182,493 | 100% | 183,156 | 100% |
The following shows the religious identity of residents residing in Hammersmith and Fulham according to the 2001, 2011 and the 2021 censuses.
| Religion | 2001[17] | 2011[18] | 2021[19] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Holds religious beliefs | 121,898 | 73.8 | 123,667 | 67.8 | 111,843 | 61.0 |
| Christian | 105,169 | 63.6 | 98,808 | 54.1 | 83,673 | 45.7 |
| Muslim | 11,314 | 6.8 | 18,242 | 10.0 | 21,290 | 11.6 |
| Jewish | 1,312 | 0.8 | 1,161 | 0.6 | 1,228 | 0.7 |
| Hindu | 1,801 | 1.1 | 2,097 | 1.1 | 2,209 | 1.2 |
| Sikh | 318 | 0.2 | 442 | 0.2 | 450 | 0.2 |
| Buddhist | 1,271 | 0.8 | 2,060 | 1.1 | 1,723 | 0.9 |
| Other religion | 713 | 0.4 | 857 | 0.5 | 1,227 | 0.7 |
| No religion | 29,148 | 17.6 | 43,487 | 23.8 | 56,059 | 30.6 |
| Religion not stated | 14,196 | 8.6 | 15,339 | 8.4 | 15,298 | 8.4 |
| Total population | 165,242 | 100.0 | 182,493 | 100.0 | 183,200 | 100.0 |
Sony Mobile Communications has its UK headquarters in the borough.[20]
Iberia operates the Iberia House in the borough.[21]All Nippon Airways operates the London Office on the fourth floor of Hythe House.[22][23]South African Airways has its United Kingdom office in the South African Airways House.[24] CE Europe, a subsidiary ofCapcom, has its head office in the George House inHammersmith in the borough. As of May 2011, it relocated to the Metro Building in Hammersmith.[25][26]Iran Air's London offices are also located in the borough.[27] The airline moved there by Wednesday 4 January 2012.[28]Disney andL'Oréal also all have UK headquarters in Hammersmith, as well as a number of other major businesses.[29]
For a 15-year periodAir France had its UK and Ireland office in Hammersmith. In 2006 the UK and Ireland office was moved toHatton Cross,London Borough of Hounslow.[30]
Until 2013,Virgin Group Ltd. had its corporate headquarters at The School House,Brook Green. The office was moved to the Battleship Building, near theWestway inPaddington, in theCity of Westminster.[31]
Also,TAP Portugal runs an administrative office in the Borough, near to Hammersmith Bus Station.
The borough has a proud sporting heritage going back to at least the second half of the 19th century when the fledgelingAmateur Athletic Association of England came to theLillie Bridge Grounds, followed there by football, boxing andFirst-class cricket. The borough is home to the world-governing body ofPolo atThe Hurlingham Club in Fulham and upholds the traditions ofracketts and championshiptennis at theQueen's Club, also in Fulham.
The borough is home to a number of sports teams and athletes:
Chelsea Football Club is based in the borough and playsPremier League football having won theEnglish national championship on six occasions (1955, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2015 and 2017) as well as theUEFA Champions League in 2012 and 2021. London's oldest professional football club,Fulham F.C. playing in thePremier League andQueens Park Rangers (playing in theChampionship) are also based in the borough.
Hammersmith & Fulham RFC have been playing in the borough at Hurlingham Park for over 30 years. They boast four senior men's sides and one Ladies XV. The men's 1st XV currently compete in London's NE2 League with the remainder of the sides participating in the Middlesex Merit Tables.
Public and private courts are available throughout the borough.
Lower Mall hosted several rowing clubs at the end of the 19th century, of which there are two survivors and one founded slightly later. Among those who moved elsewhere or were disbanded were those in the headquarters of the national governing body, British Rowing, The Priory.
The first half of theBoat Race course, which is known as the Championship Course, hosting hundreds of eights the weekend before and many other races, is on the borough's most obvious boundary: its section of theTideway – the upper estuary of theThames.
The numerousLondon Overground andLondon Underground stations in the borough are:
TheLondon Overground line now connects the borough with theNorth London Line viaWillesden Junction station and direct services toWatford Junction station to the north and services toEast Croydon station to the south, viaClapham Junction railway station.
Two main road arteries, theA4 road and theA40 road cross the borough.Hammersmith bus station at Hammersmith Broadway, above the District and Piccadilly lines tube station, is an important bus hub to most parts of London.
In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: underground, metro, light rail, tram, 26.8% of all residents aged 16–74; bus, minibus or coach, 8.8%; on foot, 8.8%; driving a car or van, 8.2%; bicycle, 5.1%; work mainly at or from home, 4.2%; train, 3.1%.[32]
TheSee of London has occupied theFulham Palace riverside grounds for close on 900 years. The Palace is leased to the borough since 1977 and is now a museum.
The borough has four theatres (Riverside Studios,Bush Theatre, theLyric Hammersmith and Curtains Up).LAMDA is based in the borough. There are several cinema complexes.Studio 106 Art Gallery holds regular exhibitions and workshops.
TheLyric Hammersmith, on Lyric Square off King Street, is considered one of the most notable theatres outside the West End in London.
The borough is also home to theHammersmith Apollo andO2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, which play hosts to major concerts and stand-up comedy performances.
Hammersmith has been the seat of thePolish Social and Cultural Centre, known asPOSK in King Street, for several decades. It houses a number of organisations which serve Polish expatriates and others interested in Polish culture, including a theatre, an exhibition space, a library and archives as well as retail and dining facilities. It occasionally hosts other organisations in the borough, including the Fulham Symphony Orchestra. It is also the home of thePolish University Abroad.[33]
.JPG)
Public libraries in the borough include Askew Road Library, Avonmore Library,Fulham Library,Hammersmith Library, Sands End Library, and Shepherds Bush Library.[34] The Borough Archives, open to the public Mondays and Tuesdays, staffed mainly by volunteers, are accessed in Hammersmith Library.
The borough is the home of an 1893 establishment, theSacred Heart High School, Hammersmith on Hammersmith Broadway, and ofLady Margaret School (LMS) onParsons Green, a school that welcomes girls of all academic abilities aged 11–17 years. It has been at the forefront of girls' education for over 95 years and has its origins in Whitelands College School which was founded in 1842. When that school was threatened with closure Lady Margaret was established in September 1917 by the redoubtable Miss Enid Moberly Bell.[35] The borough is also home to two prestigious independent girls' schools –St Paul's Girls' School inBrook Green (often ranked in first place in the country in league tables, with nearly 50% of each year group gaining entry to Oxbridge), and theGodolphin and Latymer School, situated a few minutes' walk fromHammersmith Broadway.[citation needed]
TheLondon Oratory School is a leading Roman Catholic secondary school in East Fulham.
Latymer Upper School, an independent co-educational school, is also in the borough, on King Street inHammersmith.
The exclusive independent girls' preparatory school Bute House is also inBrook Green.There are two notable independent French language primary schools: Ecole Jacques Prevert in Brook Green and the Ecole Marie d'Orliac in Hurlingham.
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has formaltwinning arrangements with:
Below it is a plaque which reads:
The lamp above this plaque was formerly usedto light a street in West Berlin
It was presented byHerr Willi Brandt, Mayor of West BerlintoCouncillor Stanley Atkins, L. P.The Worshipful the Mayor of HammersmithAs a token of friendship between the two communitiesOn the occasion of the Jumelage held in this Borough
1st June 1963
The following people and military units have received theFreedom of the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
 |
In June 1988 theAudit Commission was tipped off by someone working on the swaps desk ofGoldman Sachs that the Borough had a massive exposure tointerest rate swaps. When the commission contacted the council, the chief executive told them not to worry as "everybody knows that interest rates are going to fall"; the treasurer thought the interest rate swaps were a "nice little earner". The Commission's Controller,Howard Davies, realised that the council had put all of its positions on interest rates going down and ordered an investigation.[42]
By January 1989 the Commission obtained legal opinions from twoQueen's Counsel. Although they did not agree, the commission preferred the opinion that it wasultra vires for councils to engage in interest rate swaps (ie. that they had no lawful power to do so). Moreover, interest rates had increased from 8% to 15%. The auditor and the commission then went to court and had the contracts declared void (appeals all the way up to theHouse of Lords failed inHazell v Hammersmith and Fulham LBC); the five banks involved lost millions of pounds. Many other local authorities had been engaging in interest rate swaps in the 1980s.[42] This resulted in several cases in which the banks generally lost their claims forcompound interest on debts to councils, finalised inWestdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council.[43] Banks did, however, recover some funds where the derivatives were "in the money" for the Councils (ie, an asset showing a profit for the council, which it now had to return to the bank, not a debt).[42]
The controversy surrounding interest rate swaps reached a peak in the UK during the2008 financial crisis where banks sold unsuitable interest rate hedging products on a large scale to SMEs. The practice has been widely criticised[44] by the media and Parliament.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
